The Art of
Derek Yaniger
Korero Books
2008
Tower Books
Australia
Derek Yaniger is a master of low brow and
retro, he regularly publishes in such magazines as Atomic, Barracuda, and Car Kulture
Deluxe and does prints for shows such as Hukilau, Tiki Oasis, and the Wild
Weekend and is well known for his illustrations for the Cartoon Network and
Marvel Comics.
What is low brow you may ask ? While it
was originally a derogative term, it came to be used to describe an underground
art movement that developed in Los Angeles and environs during the late 1970s.
It developed into a very widespread art movement with origins in underground
comics, punk music, hot-rod street culture, retro, tiki and other subcultures.
It is also sometimes known as pop surrealism. Yaniger is a major exponent of
low brow and retro art forms and Wildsville is a superb compendium of his work.
This is the only book devoted to Yaniger’s
book covers, magazine art, gallery work, clip art, signage, serigraphs,
convention posters as well as his work for the Cartoon Network and Marvel
Comics. It includes a lot of rare pieces not seen anywhere else. It contains
more than 150 original paintings and illustrations reproduced in superb,
indeed, garish colours.
His work celebrates the low brow retro
style of the 1950’s re-visioned through a very modern lens. It is a world of
tikis, hillbillies, burlesque, hotrods, booze, rock n roll, beatniks, monsters
and woman in tight sweaters.
His work combines the old and the new, a
50’s sensibility with a modern feel. It is marked by lots of geometric shapes,
cartoon figures, folk images, cut-out lettering and strong colours, strange
monsters, cars, sex and booze.
There is a solid introduction with a good
basic biography and then the floodgates open and we get to experience the world
through Yaniger’s eyes – it is a weird and wacky place but ever so cool.
This is a superb quality hardcover,
oversized and 112 pages. It offers some 150 high quality images beautifully
reproduced with excellent background and descriptive notes.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here
to go to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)